As a novelist, Matt Ruff skirts the fine line between literary and genre fiction, and his books are always surprising. He's inventive, he's funny, and he's highly moral as a writer: even in his wild, fantastic scenarios, conflicts come down to good/evil schisms that Matt excavates even as he's making you laugh. Where does this exploration of ethics come from? And what level of bravery does it take to embody characters who don't look like you do?